Bitcoin Could Hit New All-Time Highs This QuarterMarket Talk

0900 ET - Bitcoin could soon reach all-time highs as investment flows into the cryptocurrency rise, Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick says in a note. Spot bitcoin exchange traded funds have seen $5.3 billion of inflows over the past three weeks, he says. Strategy, formerly known as Microstrategy, has also increased purchases and planned buying. Notably, the Swiss National Bank recently started buying Strategy shares. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund is likely to have increased its bitcoin holdings while other long-term type buyers to have also joined in. StanChart expects bitcoin to rise to $120,000 by the second quarter. Bitcoin rises 2.7% to $99,379, having earlier reached a three-month high of $99,874, according to LSEG. ([email protected])0810 ET - Krispy Kreme says it's reassessing its rollout schedule in McDonald's U.S. restaurants as the doughnut supplier "works to achieve a profitable business model for all parties." Krispy Kreme says it doesn't expect to add its doughnuts to any additional McDonald's locations in 2Q. It currently supplies more than 2,400 McDonald's restaurants. The company scrapped its guidance due to the McDonald's pause and economic uncertainties, and didn't provide new figures. Krispy Kreme slides 25% premarket. ([email protected]; @heatherhaddon)0348 ET - Stock markets rise on increased optimism about easing trade tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would announce a major trade deal later. People familiar with the negotiations said Trump would announce a framework of a trade deal with the U.K. "The news boosted sentiment across global equity markets, lifting Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures, while also sending FTSE futures and sterling higher in Asian trading," IG analysts say in a note. The pan-European index Stoxx Europe 600 climbs 0.2% to 534.95 while the U.K. FTSE 100 stocks index rises 0.1% to 8,564.7 points and U.S. stock futures point to a higher opening on Wall Street. ([email protected])0340 ET - Zurich Insurance's print was broadly positive though the disclosure was limited, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods says in a research note after the Swiss group's update. "We think the non-life rating narrative and commentary about expanding margins in both commercial and personal lines is positive versus expectations," analyst William Hawkins writes. The feared deceleration in U.S. commercial property rate momentum doesn't seem to materialize, he adds. The analyst also notes better pricing but softer volume growth which can be seen as a function of further portfolio optimization. Shares have been relatively weak since November's business plan update so expectations might be low, Hawkins adds. The stock trades 0.6% lower at 589 Swiss francs. ([email protected])0316 ET - U.K. financials, cyclicals, and domestic stocks have cheap valuations relative to their U.S. peers, and are likely to perform better than their counterparts, Clive Beagles, senior fund manager at JO Hambro says in a note. However, U.K. defensive stocks such as Bunzl have expensive valuations following years of outperformance, he says. Overall, the U.K. market is "cheap compared to the rest of the world and other major markets," Beagles says. ([email protected])0232 ET - German industry's rebound might not last, Franziska Palmas at Capital Economics cautions, after output from the country's factories increased more than expected at the end of the first quarter. March's 3.0% increase in production shows that conditions have, at least, stopped deteriorating, Palmas says. But some of that boost will have come from a rush among American firms to stockpile imports ahead of April's tariff announcement, she notes. That halo will fade, and a further drag might come from a rerouting of Chinese exports away from the U.S., Palmas says."The [export] sector will also continue to struggle with dwindling competitiveness and a structural decline in demand for autos," she says. "The upshot is that we wouldn't be surprised to see German industrial output contract again in the next six months or so."([email protected]; @joshualeokirby)